Never Frown
by Dakk Tribal
Summary: How far would you go to put a smile on her face?  Implied NoelxYeul


**_This story is slightly changed from canon to fit in certain perimeters (such as Yeul's age) in order to avoid backlash. This is implied NoelxYeul, so please, no_**_ flaming._

* * *

><p><em>A flower that never wilts, <em>

_A smile that never fades, _

_A bond that never dies_

* * *

><p>"This ought to impress Caius," Noel said aloud as he walked back to the settlement, while dragging a large leg of a behemoth behind him. He had killed the massive beast with a load of difficulty, which, since he had done it by himself, was no easy feat. Stopping to wipe the sweat off his brow, Noel then took a deep breath and continued to drag the soon-to-be meal towards his village.<p>

Of course, he had killed the behemoth for his village since he was one of the best hunters left. Caius had sent him to get it as a sort of ritual in strength, and Noel knew he had passed to a certain degree. Impressing Caius was never easy, but killing a behemoth would sure to make him raise an eyebrow, right?

At least that was what Noel wanted.

It took him nearly twenty minutes to get back, and he saw a few people standing in the center square, appearing to be waiting for him and his quarry. Caius stood in the middle, arms crossed over his chest and his massive sword on his back. He had a half-smile on his face, so Noel had to think he had done something right in the end.

And next to Caius, standing with her hands clasped together on her stomach, dressed in white with a veil over her lovely face, was Yeul.

"Hey, I'm back," Noel, said, dropping the behemoth leg at his feet. A few other hunters came and took the leg away, and Caius stepped forward.

"How'd it go?"

_Typical Caius_, Noel thought trying to catch his breath. "It was nothing, Caius—"

The swordsman nodded in approval, "it took you awhile, but this should keep us going for a few weeks at most. Good job, Noel."

Noel nodded back and Caius turned away, a hand to his chin as if thinking.

Yeul took one step forward, her voice barely audible in the light breeze, "Are you alright, Noel?"

Taken a bit by surprise, Noel stood up straight, "I'm a bit scratched up, but I'm alright. Thanks Yeul."

The young seeress kept her eyes on the hunter, her green eyes blinking slowly as Noel caught them looking back at him and glowing ominously.

"Yeul, you alright?"

Almost in a trance like state, Yeul stared past Noel as his words fell on deaf ears, and images overcame her sight. Images that were indiscernible and chaotic to the point that she couldn't even describe them herself, all Yeul could do is watch as her vision came and flooded her mind.

The vision had gone the few seconds it had appeared. Yeul shook her head to shake the images that had entered her mind. "Noel, it's nothing."

_Somehow I doubt that,_ Noel thought, knowing full well what the seeress was capable of seeing. Being a seeress was a blessing and a curse, as she can see visions that were happy and bloom, but also of misfortune and doom. Either way, it ended up shortening her life, and there was absolutely nothing anyone could do about it. No one could help her, and that made Noel very unhappy.

At the tender age of sixteen, Yeul had not even lived her life, and she could die anytime she had one of her visions.

"What did you see?"

Caius' voice made Noel turn his attention to his friend, and Noel noticed that his facial expression was a grim one.

Yeul also turned to Caius, who towered over her as she spoke, "I was unable to make out what I saw."

"Then it was just a passing image?"

Yeul nodded.

Caius looked at Noel, "Very well. Noel, see to it that the rest of the monster is brought back here before it rots. We'll eat plenty in honor of Yeul's birthday tomorrow."

Noel's eyes went wide as he remembered, _Dammit…I still haven't gotten her anything._ The hunter kicked himself mentally, and he responded to Caius with a simple nod before he faced Yeul again. The seeress had not shown any enthusiasm over celebrating her birthday, but it was something that Noel and Caius had strongly recommended they do in order to liven the mood of the village. Actually, it had been Noel's idea and Caius had been the one who asked the rest of the village if they could. Yeul was probably the most important member in the village, but Caius was her protector and had more authority so that made him the de facto leader. Whatever he laid down became law.

After saying that he would go get the rest of the slain behemoth right away, Noel waved bye to Yeul and she returned in kind. And, as far as Noel had known, her expression had not changed during the entire conversation. This made him lose whatever good feeling he had before he had entered the village.

It was a few hours later that Noel returned the rest of the monster, and then proceeded to go back out into the wilds to hunt. Not to hunt for food, but for Yeul's almost late birthday gift.

He had been mentally jabbing himself in the gut ever since Caius had reminded him of Yeul's party the following day. He had known Yeul for years and had always gotten her something on her birthday, but with so many things going on recently it had somehow slipped his mind through a paper-thin crack.

But he quickly forgot about beating himself up as he became determined to find something to make up for his mistake. But that was easier said than done in his world.

There wasn't anything to go to, the simplest of luxuries were hard to find and weren't plentiful, so the task was bleak to begin with. The only sense of hope that Noel could think about was the treasure hunting aspect of his search. Sure, the world was devoid of almost everything, but if he could just look hard enough he might just find something.

Walking in the white sand for what seemed like forever, a familiar voice came from nowhere, "So here you were this whole time."

It was Caius.

Noel stopped and said, "Sorry, I was just thinking."

The usually stoic Caius spoke, "You forgot Yeul's present, didn't you?"

Head down in obvious shame, Noel let his action speak for him.

Caius, however, was not angry with him, "That's why you're out here."

"Am I always that obvious?"

"No, but I've known you long enough to know," the guardian said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Then you should know that there must be something I can do. I don't want to upset Yeul on her birthday."

"True, though I may be of little help in your quest, I think there's something Yeul would like to have."

This piqued Noel's curiosity and he listened intently, "What's that."

"I saw her looking at the garden near the well, you know, the one that died out a few weeks ago?"

Noel nodded, "Yeah, it was a favorite spot for her. What about it?"

"Yeul always watched the flowers, spending most of the day just looking at them, touching them, and smelling them. Even though she never showed beyond actions, she loved them. Get where I am going?"

It took a few seconds for Noel to totally understand, "Yeah, but flowers are hard to come by around here. I'm not even sure there are anymore in the world."

"It is unfortunate, but its true. However, there is one type of flower still in this world that I know of. Ever heard of a Metalicactaur?"

Noel thought about it quickly, the name didn't ring a bell, "No."

"They're metallic cousins of the cactaur. Bodies of metal and bioorganic plant. Nearly invincible, they have one trait that keeps them from being machines. A single flower on their heads that blooms once they mature."

Noel could see where he was getting at, and a smile came across his face, "Alright, where can I find this thing?"

"It's not easily found, but they're normally known to inhabit the Black Sands. I'll accompany you."

"Why are you so invested in helping me? Shouldn't you be with Yeul?"

"I have my reasons, none that you need to know right now, alright?"

Noel didn't want to even attempt to agitate Caius, so he dropped the conversation right then and there. Not that he wasn't grateful for Caius' help, he was feeling more than grateful, just in case something terrible happened along the way.

The sun was beginning to set when the two hunters made it to the Black Sands. They had returned to the village beforehand to ready for a fight, as Caius said that the creatures often traveled in packs. They had told everyone that they would be back, and Noel had seen to it that he had told Yeul where they were going but was careful to leave out the reason why.

Didn't want to spoil the surprise for later.

One thing Noel had noticed when he told Yeul was the look of concern on her face, more than likely out of knowing that cactaur were more often than not capable of killing humans with ease. Noel had assured her that he and Caius would come back safe and sound; his voice full of confidence, but her expression had not changed.

"For once, I want to see her smile out of joy…" Noel said as he and Caius walked into the Black Sands.

"To be a seeress is a curse, you find little to smile about, knowing your life will expire at any given moment," Caius replied.

"Still, I want to see it happen at least once while I still live," Noel said, and trying to convince himself that he would. The two went on past rocks and into the black sand valley, where scattered lifeless trees stood and pits of black sand sprawled the land. "Alright, these things like to migrate or anything?"

Caius just pointed towards a machine half buried in the sand, a train car, and out popped a metallic object; it made a small plop when it made contact with the sand. Three hairs stuck out of its head, and when it saw the two hunters, it took off in the opposite direction and went behind the train car.

Noel was surprised, it hadn't taken them long to find one of the little buggers. "It didn't have a flower on its head?"

"No, but its brethren more than likely will, just need to wary, you attack one and the others will gang up on you in a heartbeat—"

"Sure thing, let's go get it!"

As soon as the boy started to run, Caius ran after him, yelling for him to wait but it was too late as he took off like a shot behind the train car.

A couple hours later…

The young seeress sat in her chair, in her home, waiting. Her protector Caius and friend Noel had gone out no more than two hours ago and they had not returned yet. She was always quiet on the outside, but inside she was starting to worry. Caius was never one to be concerned about; considering he was the best guardian she ever had and was nearly unbeatable.

It was Noel that she was more worried about.

Her friend who was two years older than she was, he had always looked out for her on those rare occasions that Caius couldn't, and the two had grown close since they had been kids. But with each vision she had since she was young, it seemed to hurt Noel, and it didn't take a genius to know why.

But there was nothing Yeul could do about the visions, nor could she do anything about dying either. She had to grin and bear it, though she gave up on the grin part of the phrase.

Smiling was something Noel had down to a tee, but Yeul never could bring herself to even smirk these days. Even with a festive birthday celebration coming, she couldn't—

"Lady Yeul!"

The seeress looked up, "What's wrong?"

The man didn't say what it was, but something told Yeul to get up and go outside, and when she did she gasped in surprise.

Caius was carrying his sword in one hand while Noel was over his left shoulder.

"You're a fool, charging into a cluster like that," the guardian said, setting Noel down in the gray sand. Noel sat on his backside before falling backwards on his back, weakly attempting to pull the countless needles out of his left arm.

"Yeah…but you still came and got me out of there, Caius. So, we're both fools, in a way, right?" Noel said with a smirk.

Caius shook his head as Yeul came up to the two, flanked by a couple other hunters and curious citizens. "What happened?"

"This idiot tried to fight a small cluster of Metalicactaur in the Black Sands, he got a few of them before the alpha Jumbo cactaur arrived and we had to fight it. I saved him, but not before he got shot by needles."

Yeul knelt down next to Noel, "Why did you do such a stupid thing Noel?"

The hunter lifted his left arm, shaking due to the pain, and in his palm was a golden yellow flower with petals that sparkled like glitter in the sun.

Yeul took one look at the flower and she became at a loss for words. Noel smiled however, and said, "Happy birthday, Yeul." Then his head fell to the side, and he was unconscious.

Caius asked a few men to take the unconscious Noel to Yeul's house to rest up, and to give him medical attention. Yeul was still sitting in the sand when Caius returned to check on her, still clutching the flower in her hands. "Yeul…?"

When Caius knelt down next to her, he found her hands to her face, caressing the cactaur flower against her right cheek, eyes closed, and smiling lightly.

The next morning, Noel, after somehow sleeping the night away despite having however many needles sticking out of his arm, Noel awoke to a really surprising sight.

Sitting in a chair, holding the flower he had barely managed to get a hold of the day before, was Yeul.

She was smiling, "Thank you, Noel."


End file.
